Sometimes, bravery is being unafraid to love who you love. In the new movie “Loving,” one couple’s courage changed more than their lives. Their refusal to deny their feelings changed the U.S. Constitution! Deco’s constitutional law liaison Chris Van Vliet is here with more.
The movie is called “Loving,” not just because this coupled loved each other. It’s also their last name. Fitting, right? Richard and Mildred Loving were thrown in jail in the 1950s just for getting married. I flew to Los Angeles to chat with the stars who play them.
Joel Edgerton (as Richard Loving): “I’m going to take Mildred up to D.C. to get married.”
Will Dalton (as Virgil): “You sure about that?”
Loving takes us back to 1957. Richard and Mildred Loving, from Virginia get married in D.C., but when they come home to Virginia, they’re thrown in jail because he is white and she is black.
Police officer: “Whatcha doing in bed with that woman?”
Ruth Negga (as Mildred Loving): “I’m his wife.”
Police officer: “That’s no good here.”
The couple is played beautifully in the film by Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton. The last time we saw Joel was for his movie “The Gift” — and we gave him a gift.
Joel Edgerton: “All right, there we go.”
Chris Van Vliet: “Deco Drive T-shirt because I heard it’s your favorite show.”
Joel Edgerton: “It is, it is. How did you know that?”
But this time around, Joel wasn’t wearing his favorite T-shirt from his favorite show.
Chris Van Vliet: “And I gave you a Deco Drive T-shirt, which I’m assuming you wear all the time.”
Joel Edgerton: “All the time.”
Chris Van Vliet: “Yeah, that’s what I like to hear!”
Joel Edgerton: “It’s actually crazy. It’s in the wash today.”
Chris Van Vliet: “Aw man. I’m sure when I see you next time, you’ll be wearing it.”
Now Richard and Mildred Loving weren’t intending to create any controversy, they simply wanted to live their lives.
Chris Van Vliet: “Mildred and Richard are very quiet people and that is represented in the way the story is told.”
Ruth Negga: “They didn’t seek out any civil rights limelight. They were very much ordinary people who did something extraordinary.”
Joel Edgerton (as Richard Loving): “I can take care of you.”
Ruth Negga (as Mildred Loving): “I know that.”
Joel Edgerton completely transformed to become Richard Loving — changing his hair, his teeth, the way he walked and especially his voice.
Joel Edgerton: “There was a lot of thoughtfulness about every piece of it. One of the attorneys said Richard looked more like a guy who would be a redneck and would be against a marriage of two people like Richard and Mildred.”
Their case ended up being heard by the Supreme Court and caused a change in the Constitution.
Ruth Negga: “I think why people respond to this is that we’re all ordinary, but we are capable of being extraordinary. We all have that in us. Not one of us is born to be any more special than another, but we all have that specialness in us.”
Joel Edgerton (as Richard Loving): “Yeah, tell the judge I love my wife.”
This is the time of year when you start seeing those movies that you’ll be hearing about come Oscar time … and “Loving” is generating a lot of Oscar buzz.
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